Family friends around for dinner Saturday night- can i do a roast?

[hmmmwhattoeat]

I will start with the fact i love a good roast, and i know logically you can have one any time,BUT it seems odd to eat one on a Saturday night for some reason.

Apart from the fact i like a roast, another benefit it brings is that i can prepare most of it in advance so it still enables me to drop kids to and from their clubs and I know they will also eat it!! Win win

Would you think its a strange choice if you went around for an evening dinner and were served a roast dinner???

Unreasonable- you can not serve a roast for saturday night dinner
Reasonable- stop being silly thats perfectly fine

I would happily do a roast with a twist - peri peri chicken with skin on potato wedges, for example. Or a roast chicken with Indian spices and gunpowder potatoes. Similar sort of idea but ring the changes.

Maybe a kind of roast. So rather than chicken with roast potatoes and veg, do roast chicken, dauphinoise potatoes or celeriac gratin and a green veg. Or roast beef, but with homemade chips/wedges, grilled flat mushrooms, roasted baby onions and a peppercorn sauce.

How about a pot roast? A roast, but not.

Roast beef is my favourite, & if I went for dinner to my friends , who cares if it’s Sat, Sun , Mon or Tue !
I’d be delighted 😊.
You said kids will eat it too , so I’d def go with Roast 🙌

How about porchetta? Or a german style roast pork with potato dumplings? Kleftiko? A roast which is something a bit more/different sort of thing.

Ditch your friends and invite those of us who love roasts and we can all have a great night!

I’d do something else, a lot of people have a roast on a Sunday.

No real reason why not, but it seems odd to me and not the sort of meal I would cook for friends coming round. There are loads of other main courses you could prepare beforehand, e.g. some sort of casserole, a tray of mixed veg to shove in the oven to roast, and just cook rice or pasta at the end, or a luxury fish pie.

Personally, not on a Saturday night, but I’m not a huge roast fan. I don’t really think of it as dinner party food if that’s the vibe you’re going for, but you know your friends best.

Absolutely I love a roast anytime especially if I don't have ro cook it

Sorry not on a Saturday night. I am a bit hardline though with no Yorkshires other than with beef.

Yes many people don't do a roast because they are too busy, kids doing sports etc. everyone loves it. It's a great thing as everyone will tuck in, talk its like a living oxo advert

I’m surprised anyone is bothered what they get, if someone else is cooking it 🤣

still, seeing the responses here maybe the thing to do is ask them if they’d prefer a roast or whatever option 2 you’re happy making.

I’ve done a roast chicken(s) for Friday/Saturday night suppers with friends. Just roast as usual, lots of butter, herbs, stuff with lemon, sitting on veg, but instead of traditional sides, I put a few topped heads of garlic in as well, one per two people eating, keep basting the chicken with wine, and serve it with a couple of salads and warm crusty bread. Use the garlic to butter the bread, add hot chicken, dip in the jus - glorious! And if there’d be a mutiny about there being no spuds, I’d roast some fingerlings with herbs, or make a one pan Greek orzo dish with lots of cherry toms and feta. Lemon tart for pudding and job’s a good ‘un

I’ve often made a non-Sunday roast for guests - it’s always been popular. And TBH I find a roast very easy, very little faff.

@hmmmwhattoeat
What time should I arrive please?

I’d be thrilled!!

I don't know why it has to be a Sunday. Totally up to you. But as others have said some people are very fixed on having a roast on Sundays so with that and time constraints I'd probably play safe and go for a slow cooked oven dish.

Nope roasts are boring as hell and for Sundays.
Do cottage pie

Not sure. It’s too heavy for an evening meal for me, I think. I like a roast on a Saturday or Sunday afternoon. Something similar perhaps? Roasted chicken with some fancy type potatoes and veg? With something a bit more exotically flavoured to start with? And something light for dessert.

I’m on the fence and I’d have to ask what the guests thought. It’d be a bit much for me on an evening.

How about doing pulled pork with stuffing, apple sauce & baguettes, or roast lamb with flatbreads, yogurt & pomegranate. We’ve done both of those for guests and they went down well. Or a big chilli with all the sides.

I often do a roast on a Saturday. My family love a roast dinner and Saturday is usually the best day to see them all. I cook for 12 and we have either lamb or chicken and a side of salmon. I always do Yorkshire puddings, which have to be gluten free, mounds of roast potatoes and a good selection of vegetables. Pudding is fruit crumble and custard.

A roast wouldn’t be something I would expect for dinner on a Saturday night. There are few meals I loathe more than roast dinners and I would be really disappointed if someone served me a roast, which is why I have always avoided lunch invitations on Sundays. There are so many other meals you could make in advance.

I loathe chilli. It’s weird because I actually like chillis in curries. If someone had done a chilli I would really struggle to eat it.

Can’t you think of anything else? You could do basically all the same ingredients but swap the potatoes for rice and make a creamy chicken sauce instead of a gravy. It’s even less work than a roast but at least it’s something different.

A chicken and tarragon sauce with chicken thighs and drumsticks, then the veg and rice to go with it.